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CORfRIGHT DEPOSIT- 



THE LAMP OF HEAVEN 



THE CONTEMPORARY SERIES 

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME 

Laodice and Danae Play in Verse 

By Gordon Bottomley 

Images— Old and New Poems 

By Richard Aldington 

The English Tongue and Other Poems 
By Lewis Worthington Smith 

Five Men and Pompey Dramatic Portraits 

By Stephen Vincent Benet 

Horizons Poems 

By Robert Alden Sanborn 

The Tragedy A Fantasy in Verse 

By Gilbert Moyle 

Common Men and Women Rhythmus 

By Harold W. Gammans 

The Marsh Maiden And Other Plays 

By Felix Gould 

Omar and the Rabbi Play in One Act 

By Frederick LeRoy Sargent 

The Smile of Mona Lisa Play in One Act 
By Jacinto Benavente 

The Lamp of Heaven Chinese Play in One Act 
By Mrs. L. Worthington Smith 



THE LAMP OF HEAVEN 

A Chinese Play in One Act 

^ BY 

MRS. L. WORTHINGTON SMITH 




Boston 

The Four Seas Company 

1919 



Copyright, ipip, by 
The Four Seas Company 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

\ 



•% 



^'% 



For the right to perform this play address the 
publishers, who are the author's representatives. 



■JLb.n 



The Four Seas Press 
Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 



3)Cf.D 53854 



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PERSONS OF THE PLAY 

Mee Fah Kam, a maid with bandaged feet. 

Ho Git, her father. 

Soo Ki Loo, her maid. 

An American Officer, billeted across the street. 

First German Soldier. 

Second German Soldier. 

Peter, a carrier pigeon. 

Time 
Boxer Rebellion, Summer of 1901 

Place 
Ho Git's Palace in Pekin. 



ORIGINAL CAST 



Mee Fah Kam 

Soo Ki Loo 

Ho Git 

First German Soldier 

Second German Soldier 

American Officer 



Catherine Conrad 

Josephine Hunter Ray 

Detliv Tillisch 

Capt. Thomas Waiters 

Sergt. Victor Schultz 

Lieut. Harvey Ray 



THE LAMP OF HEAVEN 



THE LAMP OF HEAVEN 

It is midsummer in Pekin, in the year i^oi, at the 
time of the Boxer Rebellion, 

The room shown is an intimate chamber in the palace 
of Ho Git. The scant furniture, all teak wood and 
ebony, is of Chinese design. On the wall in front of 
a .rich panel of embroideries inset with irregular 
pieces of looking-glass, an incense burner sways in 
the breeze. Two pale lemon-colored lanterns that 
shade through greens and brilliant Chinese blues, 
swing from the ceiling, their silk tassle and jade 
strung cords jangling in the wind. The family 
shrine, with its jar of incense burning before it, is 
open. Through the wide window at the back of the 
room the boughs of a cherry tree in full bloom wave 
and toss like billows of pink foam. An impotent, 
lazy luxury permeates the scene, and the langorous 
manners of Ho Git are ringing echoes of his high 
self-esteem and physical content. His long robe of 
gay damask shows only a hint of trousers above his 
long, white socks. His coat is richly ornamented 
with jewelled buttons and metal threads. His left 
hand carries long gilded nails on his third and fourth 
fingers, his right sways a small, dark fan. 

[9] 



Mee Fah Kam's garments are of a soft-blue satin. A 
narrow silver galloon hinds the edges of her coat and 
trousers. Her jacket is richly embroidered with 
humming-birds, and a bright ornament at her neck 
matches their ruby throats. Her hair is bound 
closely about her head and looped fancifully over 
her right ear where it is held in place with large, 
carved jade pins. Her slippers are of cream bro- 
caded satin. 

At the rise of the curtain, Mee Fah Kam is leaning 
far out of the window to watch some passer-by in 
the street below. That someone catches her eye 
and sends her blushing face back behind the dra- 
peries, where she stands, looking out through the 
maze of cherry blossoms to the snow-capped moun- 
tains in the purple distance. 

Mee Fah Kam 

[Strumming her omerti which hangs from its ribbons 
over her wrist] 
The world is just over there and I, I am here. 

[She turns quickly at the sound of approaching foot- 
steps and strikes her omerti a discordant blow. The 
door flies open and Soo Ki Loo, a little maid, tumbles 
into the room and salaams deeply, trying to touch 
her forehead with her right hand and, at the same 
time, keep the cage from falling out of her kimona 
sleeve as she salutes her beloved mistress.] 

[10] 



Soo Ki Loo 
[Pulling from her sleeve a small willow cage that holds 

a white homing pigeon] 

Amellican man, him send you dove. Over the com- 
pound wall him hand for you. Say "soldiers pillage, 
if trouble Mee Fa Kam, release — and help from 
heaven — come soon." 

Mee Fah Kam 
[Excitedly, reaching her long fingers through the bars 
to caress the neck of the carrier pigeon] 
American man? What name? 

Soo Ki Loo 
[Solemnly] 
Offizer. Since war him live in Ling Chang house 
— outside. 

Mee Fah Kam 
[Drawing Soo Ki Loo to the window, and pointing 
beyond the wall] 
Over there? 

Soo Ki Loo 
[Pointing] 
One — two — three. The lattice where the birdhouse 
hang above, — that he. 

Mee Fah Kam 
[Wishing to be alone] 
Quick, rice and hemp seeds — and crickets. [As maid 
protests.] Grasshoppers, then. Go. 

[II] 



[When the maid is gone, Mee Fah Kam opens the 
cage, takes the dove out and holds it caressingly 
against her cheek and neck. She laughs as its 
pink toes curl about her fingers, and lifts it 
high over her head. Swaying it hack and forth 
playfully, she snatches it to her mouth and kisses its 
polished hill, crooning happily, in a haltingly sing- 
song voice.] 

"Life comes like a bird song 

Through the open windows of the heart." 

[Hearing steps in the corridor she places the dove hack 
in the cage, and leaning far out, sets the hasket on 
the wide casement at the side of the window where 
her father will not see. As her father enters she 
flutters down from her perch at the window, spreads 
her arms and touches her head to the floor with 
wilful ohedience.] 
Honorable father! [She reaches the tea-tray and 

pours a cup and slides it across the floor until it touches 

her father's hand. ] Honorable father ! 

Ho Git 
[Sipping the tea slowly, and punctuating his words 

with deep draughts] 

My little Jonquil nods her head in the — sun — and — 
sighs . . . Why does she — sigh? 

Mee Fah Kam 
[Impatiently] 
But the jasmine flowers are sweetest outside the 
garden, honorable father, and your pretty little Mee 

[12] 



Fah Kam must sit and drink their fragrance with her 
nostrils. Could I but walk and I would pluck their 
august blooms and make a pillow for my feet to step 
upon. 

Ho Git 

[Striking the gong at his side] 

Soo Ki Loo will bring you jasmine and cherry 

flowers and purple moon-kissed hyacinths. [Turning 

as the maid enters.] Soo Ki Loo, flowers for the 

daughter of Ho Git. 

Mee Fah Kam 

[Waving away the suggestion] 
Soo Ki Loo plucks them and they smell of her 
fingers. I want them not, so. I would snap their 
stems with my own hands, most excellent father, I 
would feel the west wind kissing my hair. 

Ho Git 

[Lifting his eyes toward Soo Ki Loo] 
Her peacock fan shall woo soft breezes to you to kiss 
your painted cheek, and waters, tinkling in your foun- 
tain softly, will tell of autumn clouds that hovered low. 
[5^00 Ki Loo goes behind her mistress and languidly 
swings the long-handled feather fan over her head. ] 

The world comes to the feet of the august daughter 
of the honorable Ho Git when she but speaks. She 
does not walk. Her most excellent foot is too small. 

[13] 



Mee Fah Kam 

[Sadly defiant] 
Her foot aches with pinching, and her heart flutters 
to be free. 

Ho Git 

[Lifting his brows lightly] 
My daughter's heart flutters from foot pinching. The 
ache extends so far. [He slides his cup along the 
floor for more tea.] My Httle Mee Fah Kam eats 
none too Hghtly of birds' nest puddings and airy 
nothings spun of sugar and nut-meats. The foreign 
doctor gives a pellet for indigestion, and heart-aches 
vanish in the crystal air. [Clapping his hands and 
calling to the servant.] Soo Ki Loo, bring the great 
doctor. Your mistress has eaten sweet-meats and her 
palpitant heart is fluttering. 

Mee Fah Kam 

[Rising from the floor and struggling to balance 

herself.] 

My august heart flutters not from sweet-meats, hon- 
orable father. I tremble to see the gold-fish splashing 
in the ponds outside the wall ; to hear the lisp of rice- 
husks kissing the threshing floor; to feel the heaven- 
bom mists kissing my brow. [Slowly but with grow- 
ing excitement.] Mee Fah Kam would feel the dew- 
wet grass bending beneath her feet. She would stand, 
walk — [beating her breast with her clinched hands] 
She would run alone. [In her eagerness she has 

[14] 



reached too far out and is about to fall when her 
father rises to catch her.] 

Ho Git 

[Unmoved] 

I will close the ears of our worthy ancestors while my 
daughter speaks foolishly. [He places Mee Fah Kam 
with her back to the altar, closes the doors of the 
shrine, and, with elaborate ceremony, pours fresh rice 
in the bowls that flank the jar of burning oil.] 

It is the big-footed daughter of the foreign doctor 
that starts the dreams? The streets are filled with 
hideous she-monsters whose heavy feet press down our 
sacred ways. Ho Git's daughter does not walk. There 
is no need. [Pompously waving his hand and lifting 
one eye-brow ] Ho Git commands and the whole 
world passes beneath his window. 

Mee Fah Kam 

[Sinking to her knees in terror as the sound of a 
shuffling mob comes in from the street, and the light 
patter of a woman's feet is followed by a piercing 
scream] 

Worthy father, do the soldiers conie within our com- 
pound ? 

[A spent bullet crashing through the cherry blooms 
sends a shower of snowy petals over the carpet 
where Mee Fah Kam crouches in an agony of fear] 

[IS] 



Ho Git 
[Loftily unmoved] 
I have not asked the pigs to eat of our rice or drink 
our ambrosial tea. 

Mee Fah Kam 
[Struggling to her feet as a door crashes in the hall 

below and the thud of marching feet comes nearer 

and nearer] 

It is said that the soldiers of the heaven appointed 
kaiser wait not for invitations, honorable father, Soo 
Ki Loo, coming from the market, saw the wells out- 
side the garden half filled with tender little maids, my 
Sheima with the rest. 

Ho Git 
[Impatiently] 
A soft maid's tale. Heed it not. The humble ser- 
vants should be careful how they fall in. They have 
heels. Let them run. 

Mee Fah Kam 
[In a hushed, frightened voice] 
But your little Mee Fah Kam cannot run, respectful 
father. I am a pale will o' the wisp floating above 
the world. Over the marshes and up the mountain 
side I beckon, and you come — if you will. I am a 
purple orchid swaying 'twixt heaven and earth, draw- 
ing my sustenance from the parent stem. I asked for 
nothing and life was given me. I begged to live, and 
it is only that I do not die. 

[i6] 



Ho Git 

[Frightened, but unwilling to comprehend, stands with 
his back to the door as the sound of breaking glass 
and curses and muffled moans shivers through the 
room] 
They cannot enter. The guards of the great Ho Git 

surround the door. 

[The door swings back and two German soldiers step 
inside and bind Ho Git's arms and legs.] 

First Soldier 
[Imitating Ho Git's slow, flowery speech with tipsy, 

gutteral accent] 

The guards of the great Ho Git are sleeping soundly. 
They were very tired. Let them sleep. They have 
been sniping at our soldiers many days. Peace be 
unto them. We bring them peace. 

Second Soldier 
[Laughing drunkenly and looking amorously across at 

Mee Fah Kam_, who hides her face in the curtains 

at the window] 

Your servants ran away. The waters of your most 
excellent well embraces them, worthy father. Fear 
not. The little Mee Fah Kam shall be received less 
coldly. 
[While the soldiers are trussing up Ho Git, Mee Fah 

Kam slips her hand along the ledge, draws in the 

basket, opens it and tosses the bird high in air above 

the cherry tree, then turns and stumbles over the 

cage that has fallen at her feet.] 

[17] 



First Soldier 
[Catching Mee Fah Kam in his arms as she tries to 
get past him] 

Ah, my liddle birdling, my preddy liddle dove. Flut- 
ter into my arms, impatient one, my liddle lamp of 
heaven. [He bends her head hack and brutally kisses 
her mouth and hair.] I bathe myself in your fragrance, 
lotus blossom. You lo-af me ? Ye-as ? No-oo ? You do 
NOT loaf? Then run away. I let you go. See, I 
loose your arms. I bid you go. [He steps back 
quickly as if to leave her, pushing her aside with seem- 
ing gentleness, but as she stumbles on her bound feet 
in an effort to regain her balance, he pretends to mis- 
understand.] My passion flower will not leave me? 
You do loaf, maybe, ye-as? 

[The soldier tosses Mee Fah Kam over his shoulder 
and starts to the inner room, but stops as the pierc- 
ing strains of Yankee Doodle played on strident fife 
and bellowing drums, float in through the window. 
Above the flippant melody, the steady beat of 
marching feet rumbles like distant thunder.] 
Mee Fah Kam 
[Tremulous with hope] 
My American man! 

First Soldier 
[Disgustedly] 
Damned joy-killers ! 

Second Soldier 
Yankee pigs ! 

[i8] 



Ho Git 

[ Wildly striking the gong with his bound fists, his face 
aglow with mad abandon] 
Amellica ! Am-m-el-lica ! AM-E-LLL-LI-CA ! 

Second Soldier 
[Kicking the gong across the room and striking Ho 
Git's mouth to stop his inhuman bellowing] 
Save your breath to cool your suey, old chink. No 
one will hear. 

First Soldier 

[Again boastfully, now that the army has turned into 
another street] 

We've raped and swilled this street along. There's 
none can stop us. We command. The maids all take 
to their heels, but we let them go knowing that your 
daughter, the lady Honorable Mee Fah Kam, will not 
run. [Mocking before Ho Git with Mee Fah Kam's 
stiff little body held across his outstretched arms, he 
bows low.] Most august crippler of pretty pigeons, 
for this we give you thanks. 

[He turns back toward the inner room with Mee Fah 
Kam struggling in his arms. Ho GiT is physically 
motionless, but his eyes dart hither and thither about 
the room. His breath is sharp and quick; hard 
animal-like squeaks, high and shrill, cut the air as he 
exhales. The soldier turns at the door, tosses his 
hand gloatingly.] 

[19] 



American Officer 
[Climbing in through the window and the cherry-tree] 

HALT! 
[The First Soldier drops Mee Fah Kam, wheels 
about, salutes and stands at attention. Second 
Soldier slides through the door before the officer 
is well inside the room. For one fleeting moment 
the muscles of Ho Git's face struggle to reveal the 
grateful inner man. The officer stands beside Mee 
Fah Kam, a tender pity suffusing his wind-tanned 
face. He ignores the soldier's salute and turns and 
speaks, seemingly for Ho Git alone.] 
It is an old practice, this binding of your daughter's 
feet, and one some men might thank you for, but it is 
not the American custom to prey upon captive birds. 
We take to the open road when the ducks go over, 
matching our aim against their flight. It is great 
sport, Ho Git, and one you with your loaded dice can 
hardly know. We are merciless, sometimes, and cun- 
ning in driving our game to cover, but we are 
sportsmen. We do not clip their wings. If we are 
clever enough, and strong of limb and steady, we stand 
to win. Ho Git, you lose. This is a nation of pretty 
speeches and prettier maids who flutter modestly, and 
a pack of impotent doddering fools. You bind your 
women's feet as a sign of nobility, but what degrad- 
ation do you bring to them? Outside your wall the 
wells are filled with women and children. It's the 
same in every street. You have eyes, you have seen. 
You know why they ran. Does it mean nothing to 

[20] 



you that maids with bandaged feet are never found 
among them? What becomes of the high caste women, 
your daughters who cannot run? Billeted across the 
street, I protect your household. I heard when Mee 
Fah Kam's messenger tapped at my window, but no 
one was listening in the next street where Fah Gum 
was weeping, and no help came. The great Lung's 
pretty blossom will sing no more. 

Ho Git 

[Looking straight before him with unseeing eyes, his 

face a block of wood but for the occasional quiver 

of an eye-lid] 

What is written is written. 
[Mee Fah Kam bends over and listens eagerly. 

Soldier still stands at attention.] 

American Officer 
[Sighing and seating himself near Mee Fah Kam] 
What is written can be revised. In America, we do 
things differently. With us the cage door is always 
open. Our birds flit in and out at will. They spread 
their wings and fly away singing and come home again, 
because they are free. In my country the women 
stand shoulder to shoulder with their brothers, equal 
in body and in mind. They enter the race with no 
fetters of our making. They can make their freedom 
as great as our own. 

[21] 



Mee Fah Kam 
[Looking down at her bandaged feet and sighing wist- 
fully] 
Tell us — tell us more of this Heaven. 

American Officer 
[Picking up her omerti and hanging its ribbon over 

Mee Fah Kam's arm] 

Take your funny fiddle and sing of the rice fields. 
That song you sing when the moon shines in. 

Mee Fah Kam 
[Strumming lightly for a moment without singing, 
and then frowning] 
I, I cannot sing. 

American Officer 
[Prompting her] 
"And blue the rice-pool water lay 
Holding the sky." 
That's the way it goes. I've often watched you 
dreaming above your flowers like a little saint from 
heaven. What were you thinking? What is it that 
you think now? 

Mee Fah Kam 
[Spreading her arms before her and touching her head 

to the floor] 

Mee Fah Kam cannot sing when the honorable 
father is bound. 

{22\ 



American Officer 

Then the "honorable father" shall be freed. Unbind 
Mr. Ho, Kamarad, and report to your officer. Hurry, 
we must have the song. Sing on, sing on. Light up 
the lamp of heaven. "Alas my sorrow! Why—" 
Sing on, sing. 

Mee Fah Kam 

[Modestly strumming a few bars and beginning to sing, 
and then leaning over toward him breathlessly] 
And then — will— you tell me — about — the world — 

over there ? 

American Officer 
[Mopping his brow in the American fashion] 
Ye gods, Vd take you to it. [He starts toward her, 
but drops back to his seat in the window.] A pale 
will o' the wisp floating above the world ! Float on. 

Mee Fah Kam 

[Singing] 
"Blue was the sky, 
Blue was the sky. 
And blue the rice-pool water lay 
Holding the sky; 

Blue was the robe she wore that day. 
Alas, my sorrow! Why 
Must life bear all away, 
Away, away. 
Ah, my beloved, why?" 

(23] 



[The First Soldier has now unbound Ho Git. He 
salutes and passes out quickly. Ho Git crosses 
to the family shrine and pours fresh rice in the bowls 
and lights new incense in thanksgiving to his 
ancestors. ] 

Ho Git 

[Prostrating himself with great ceremony] 
Most worthy ancestors, the great Ho Git is calUng. 
[Mee Fah Kam looks at her father and starts to kneel 
with him, but suddenly her face lights with under- 
standing. She smiles whimsically at the Officer, 
balances totteringly on her tiny feet, then holds her 
hands out to him.] 

Mee Fah Kam 

Upon you I bestow my kindly recognition, and most 

augustly thank for my celestial head. 

[Swaying lightly as a reed upon the arm that offers 

her support, she turns resolutely from her father and 

the family shrine, and with the eagerness of a child 

waiting for the promised story of the Fairy Prince, 

points above the Officer's head and the cherry 

blooms to the purple distance.] 

Now, now tell me about the world over there where 

the last word is not written, and the women's prayers 

are graciously permitted to ascend to heaven on the 

santol and clove-oil incense that carries their lord's. 

[ With eyes half closed, chin lifted and nostrils dilating 

[24] 



as she breathes deeply.] I SEE it in my dreams, this 
AMERICA, where the glow in the heart Hke the 
Lamp of Heaven leads on and on. 

Ho Git 
[Before the shrine] 
Honorable mother ! Most worthy father ! Venerable 
grandfather! You hear a cooing dove fluttering in 
the sunbeams? It is my daughter, Mee Fah Kam. 
[Opening the inner doors of the shrine and blowing 
the cloud of smoke into the inmost recesses with the 
fan that he draws from the neck of his kimona] The 
INVINCIBLE one whose voice startles the night- 
winds and frightens the thunder clouds back to the 
mountains, — [bows with elaborate ceremony] is — 
YOUR SON, HO GIT. 



The End 



[25] 




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